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Intakhab Alam Khan/ Elixir Edu. Tech. 58 (2013) 14557-14560
Available online at www.elixirpublishers.com (Elixir International Journal)
Educational Technology
Elixir Edu. Tech. 58 (2013) 14557-14560
Speaking skills and teaching strategies: the case of an EFL classroom
Intakhab Alam Khan
King Abdulaziz University Community college, Jeddah-Saudi Arabia.
A R TI C L E I N F O
A B ST R A C T
Art i c l e h i st ory :
Received: 22 October 2012;
Received in revised form:
16 March 2013;
Accepted: 28 March 2013;
English occupies a place of prestige in the whole world simply because it is the lingua
franca. In Saudi Arabia, though it can never replace Arabic yet becoming popular in
younger generation for educational/economic growth and development. The way English
has been taught in most of Asia including the gulf region, is to a great extent
responsible for the deterioration of the standard of English for various reasons. The
issue of falling standards of English in KSA in particular in the past is very much due
to the curricular aims and objectives of English language Education. The main cause for
the students learning difficulties and poor achievement especially in speaking skill is that
teachers themselves have a very limited exposure of reasons of difficulties and
appropriate instructional strategies.
K ey w or d s
Lingua franca,
Curricular aims,
Speaking skill,
Learning difficulties,
Instructional strategies
Introduction
English is the lingua franca of the world, thus occupies an
important place. English is a compulsion due to the reason that
the knowledge of English is expected to enable us to establish
intellectual, economic, social commercial and even diplomatic
relations with the rest of the world. Its knowledge is truly
considered essential for higher education even in Saudi Arabia
where Arabic is extremely important for cultural and religion
reasons.
There are four language major language skills: Listening,
Speaking, Reading and Writing. In most of the Saudi school
classrooms, the major focus of the concerned teachers and
students is on the Reading and writing skills rather than the other
two skills. Both the teacher and student give less importance to
the Listening and Speaking Skills.
Teaching the students who have a limited exposure and
understanding of the English language can be a tedious job. As
Saudi learners of English communicate in Arabic at homes,
markets etc most of them face crucial problems in writing and
speaking because these are productive skills.
The Research Context
The great number of erroneous utterances that Arab learners
of English produce in oral performance and their recourse to
communication strategies, as shown in Rababah's study
(2001), is an indication of how serious the problem is. It is also
an indication that the objectives of the English departments in
the Arab world have not yet been achieved, and that this
situation requires a solution.
Krieger (2005, p. 10) observes, ‘EFL students who lack
intrinsic motivation may have high extrinsic motivation if their
education system emphasizes the extrinsic rewards flowing
from high scores. Even though these forms of motivation are
important but maybe are not as good as intrinsic motivation,
they can still inspire students to work hard’. According to
Brown (2001), ‘if learners have the opportunity or desire to learn
for its own sake, such as to become competent users of that
Tele:
E-mail addresses: [email protected]
© 2013 Elixir All rights reserved
© 2013 Elixir All rights reserved.
language, they will have a higher success rate in terms of longterm learning than if they are driven by only external rewards’.
MacDonald (1993, cited in Turnbull, 2001, p. 532) feels that
teachers should use L2, rather than L1 as much as possible for
motivational reasons. Learners see the TL as immediately
useful, as opposed to being so at some distant point in the
future. This motivation leads to enjoyment and success; both
important factors in the contexts of English as a second
language (ESL) and English as a Foreign language (EFL).
Relevance of CLT as EFL strategy
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is said to be one
of the latest pedagogic approach which is based on the principles
of motivation enforced learning. CLT incorporates the idea of
interaction considering it as an essential element of the whole
process and output. The basic pedagogical principle of CLT is
that successful acquisition of the target language on the part of
the learners depends on the amount of interaction and
negotiation of meaning that they participate in. In this way, the
integration of language input and output contributes to the
language development system of the learners (Beale, 2002, p.
15).
According to authors such as Canale (1983), Nunan (1991,
2004) and Littlewood (2007), CLT focuses on language as it is
used in real contexts i.e., language for “real life” communication
and so the students are given opportunities to express their ideas
and opinions. The teacher acts as a facilitator during classroom
activities so that students will ultimately be equipped with tools
in order to generate a spontaneous language use outside the
classrooms boundaries. It is rightly considered as the means of
developing fluency in the real learning situation.
Significant changes have been noticed regarding the role of
the language teacher over the years since CLT replaced the
traditional ‘grammar translation method’. The postulates of CLT
suggest that the teachers are meant to be less dominant in the
classroom and develop more authentic relationships with
students. Teachers are considered more as facilitators than
commanders of every classroom activities (Beale, 2002, p.13).
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In this connection, Johnson (1980) offers some useful
suggestions in his article ‘Making Drills Communicative’ about
how teachers can move from traditional exercises to
information gap activities for instance. CLT encourages students
to practise structures through activities.
According to Cheng (1980, p.62) CLT activities focus on
students’ interaction with their peers. Group activities maximize
the amount of oral interaction on the part of the students.
Students are also less likely to be inhibited when working with
their peers. The teacher moves from one group to another
without being obtrusive. She/he gives guidance and help when
needed only.
Nunan (2004, p.10) describes communicative language
teaching as an overarching concept (“a broad, philosophical
approach to the language curriculum”) of which “task-based
language teaching represents a realization…at the levels of
syllabus Page 56 design and methodology”. Littlewood, (2004,
p.324 cited in Littlewood, 2007, p.244) describes CLT as “a
development within the communicative approach”, in which the
crucial feature of the communicative ‘tasks’ serve not only as
major components of the methodology but also as units around
which a course may be organized”.
Methodology
The study is exploratory-descriptive type. Observation and
personal experience provide the base for the research, however,
a teachers’ questionnaire has also been used to support the data.
Limitation
The study is limited to the King Abdulaziz university
Community College, Jeddah-Saudi Arabia, however the findings
can be applied to other similar colleges.
A Case Study of EFL teaching
This research can be understood as a case study of EFL
teaching in the foundation year of almost all the government
tertiary institution of KSA. King Abdulaziz university
community college is just a sample for the present case study
study.
Case studies have the advantage of being able to incorporate
a range of methods or approaches. According to Denzin and
Lincoln (2003, p. 134), “Case studies have become one of the
most common ways to do qualitative inquiry… we could study
it analytically or holistically, entirely by repeated measures or
hermeneutically, organically or culturally, and by mixed
methods”. The case-study approach is particularly appropriate
for individual researchers because it gives an opportunity for
one aspect of a problem to be studied in some depth and within
a limited time-scale.
Following Stake (2000, 2006), Yin (1994) and Merriam
(1998) the research design is conceived as a qualitative multisite case study. The ‘case’ here is the teaching of EFL in tertiary
institutions in Oman. Elements of the case study are drawn from
multiple sites and different groups of participants at each site
that together provide data illuminating EFL teaching in Oman
as a ‘case’ This study can also be seen as a ‘multicase project’,
described by Stake (2006, p. 6) as … a special effort to
examine something having lots of cases, parts, or members.
We study those parts, perhaps its students, its committees, its
projects, or manifestations in diverse settings … One small
collection of people, activities, policies, strengths, problems, or
relationships is studied in detail … The cases have their stories
to tell, and some of them are included in the multicase report,
but the official interest is in the collection of these cases or in
the phenomenon exhibited in those cases. We seek how to
understand better how this whole … operates in different
situations”.
Methods of Data Collection
The data for this study have been elicited through 3
different sources:
- EFL Policy
-Classroom observation,
-Teachers questionnaires (Appendix. A)
Analysis and interpretation
Based on the data gathered through teacher’s questionnaire
(appendix-A) and graphical presentation (appendix), it has been
found that most of the teacher have positive attitude towards
learning strategies for speaking skill. It has also been found that
teacher’s technology orientation and implementation of some
offline and online technology are quite useful.
Findings and conclusion
The findings lead to the conclusion that strategies for
learning/teaching speaking skill is extremely important in the
modern educational scenario. The teachers should be able to use
some technologies and motivate the target learners. Motivation
is the most crucial issue of education in general in a place like
Saudi Arabia, and technology can reinforce the learners to think
positively about the learning of English as well. It is interesting
to note that almost all the classrooms are well equipped with the
latest technology so it becomes inevitable for teachers to
integrate them and facilitate the target learners.
Pedagogical implication
The above findings and conclusions can be considered
important for the following pedagogical implications regarding
the teaching strategies:
Speaking topics and strategies
The following topics and videos can be integrated with the
lesson planning:
Topic.1: Introduce yourself
The following questions are expectedly answered by the
target learners:
1- What’s your name?
2- How old are you?
3- Where are you from?
4- What does your father do?
5- Where do you live?
6- How many brothers do you have?
7- Where do you study?
8- What are your hobbies?
The following video link can be proved to be extremely useful
for the target EFL learners:
Image.1
(youTube video)
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Topic.2: Interview
The following is a model of a job interview:
1- Can you tell me something about yourself?
2- What do you know about our organization?
3- Why do you want to work for us?
4- What can you do for us that someone else can't?
5- What do you find most attractive about this position?
6- How are you different from other applicants?
7- How long would you stay with us?
8- Do you feel that you have potential as an employee?
YouTube videos on an interview for a job can be integrated by
the concerned teacher to facilitate the target learners. The
following is an example:
Image.2
(Video tips for interview)
On the basis of the above interview tips, the following
interview can develop a learner:
(image.3)
( BC’s interview video)
The pronunciation exercise and expression (accent, dialect
etc) can also be dealt with some very useful videos. The
following is a good example:
Image.4
(pronunciation drill)
A conversation is not going to be an easy task unless the
learners possess sufficient vocabulary to use in the target
conversation. In this case, the following video can be used in a
particular context of the airport:
Image.5
(a video on ‘specific vocabulary’)
The following contextual conversation can be taught to the
students to use in their current and future life. A video can help
in the process as well.
Topic.3: Ordering Food
Waiter: Welcome, what would you like to order?
Customer: I would like to get a double cheeseburger.
Waiter: Would you like everything on it?
Customer: I would like everything on it, thank you.
Waiter: Do you want any fries?
Customer: Let me get some large curly fries.
Waiter: Can I get you anything to drink?
Customer: Sure, how about a medium Pepsi?
Waiter: Is that everything?
Customer: That'll be all. Thanks.
Waiter: You're welcome, and your total is $5.48.
Customer: Thank you. Here you go.
………………………………………………..
Topic.-4: Asking for directions
A: Could you help me with something?
B: What did you need help with?
A: I need to find a mall.
B: You don't know where it is?
A: No, and I've been looking everywhere for it.
B: It's in the same place as the Al-Nahdi pharmacy.
A: Where is the Al-Nahdi pharmacy?
B: It's on Prince Mohammed Street.
A: I know where that is.
B: I'm glad I was able to help.
In addition, the following image is the example of the
computer assisted learning in the English language lab. The
students are practicing one of the language learning
programmes: Rossetta stones.
Image.6
(a view of students practicing speaking in a language lab)
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Conclusion and Pedagogical Implications
To conclude, Arab learners face many problems in all
language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The
great number of erroneous utterances that Arab learners of
English produce in oral performance and their recourse to
communication strategies, as shown in Rababah's study
(2001), is an indication of how important the pedagogic problem
is.
Therefore, it is indeed very important that the concerned
teachers should provide the target learners with the material
based on communicative strategies and motivate them to use for
the maximum results. They should also train the learners to use
offline and online technology for education. Last but not least,
the teachers should monitor the gradual development and
achievement in the speaking skills.
References
Beale, J. (2002). Is communicative Language Teaching a thing
of the Past? TESOL,
37, (1), 12-16. Retrieved on September, 06 th , 2008 on the
World Wide Web:
http://www.jasonbeal.essaypages/clt _essay.html
Brown, D., H (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive
Approach to Language
Pedagogy. San Francisco: Longman Inc.
http://www.utpjournals.com/jour.ihtml?lp=product/cmlr/574/57
4- Turnbull.html
Canale, M. (1983). From Communicative Competence to
Communicative Language
Pedagogy. In J. C. Richards, & R. W. Schmidt (Eds.), Language
and Communication. London: Longman.
Cheng, W. (1980). Communicative Language Teaching: Theory
and Practice. CUHK
Education Journal, 8, 2, 59 - 67.
Denzin, N., & Lincoln. S. (2003). Strategies of Qualitative
Inquiry. (2 nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Johnson, K. (1980). On Making Drills Communicative. Modern
English Teacher, 7 4,
23 - 25.
Krieger, D. (2005). Teaching ESL Versus EFL: Principles and
Practices. English
Teaching Forum, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs,
43 2, 8 -16.
Retrieved on February 20th 2008 on the World Wide
Web:http://forum.state.gov/vols/vol43/no2/p8.htm
Littlewood, W, (2007). Communicative and Task-Based
Language Teaching in East
Asian Classrooms. Language Teaching, 40, 243 -249. Published
online by Cambridge University Press.
Merriam, B. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study
Applications in Education.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Nunan, D. (1991). Communicative Tasks and the Language
Curriculum. TESOL
Quarterly, 25 2, 279-95.
Rababah (2001) Journal of language and learning.vol.3.
no.1,pp.180-85
Turnbull, M. (2001,). There is a Role for the L1 in Second and
Foreign Language
Stake, R. (2000). Case Studies, In: Handbook of Qualitative
Research, (Eds.), N.
Denzin, and Lincoln, Y. London: Sage Publications.
Stake, R. E. (2006). Multiple Case Study Analysis. New York:
Guilford Press.
Yin, R. (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods.
Thousand Oaks: Sage
Publications.
……………………………………………………………………
………………………
Appendix-A
Sample=14
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
910
Statements
I use Arabic when you are teaching
English in the EFL classroom
I have any reservations over the
textbooks’ content in terms of cultural
appropriateness
Role plays and simulations are useful
learning strategies
I employ bilingual strategy.
Direct method is a better strategy than
bilingual strategy
I integrate technology for EFL
teaching.
Online learning is very useful.
There is only a need of technology
orientation for teachers.
Learning difficulties can be minimized
by fruitful strategies
Speaking skill can be developed by
active participation and skillful
techniques of teaching.
agree
3
undecided
4
disagree
7
5
3
6
10
4
-
4
9
4
3
6
2
10
2
2
7
5
4
3
3
6
7
3
4
10
4
-
Appendix-B
Graphical presentation